Milwaukee set to induct four into Athletics Hall of Fame

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will induct three former student-athletes and a former coach into its Athletics Hall of Fame Sunday, April 26.

Heather Czappa, Sue (Raschka) Korpal, Susan (Moynihan) Manning and Hugh Thompson will all become part of the hall of fame during ceremonies at the UWM Union. The hall of fame induction will be part of the UWM Student-Athlete Award Reception, which begins at 4 p.m.

The four represent a wide range of sports of UWM, with swimming and diving, volleyball, soccer and baseball all represented.

Czappa was a four-year letterwinner on the UWM women's swimming team, performing primarily as a backstroke specialist. She was a two-time Midwestern Collegiate Conference champion in the 100-yard backstroke, becoming the first individual women's conference champion in UWM history.

She also captured a second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in 1997 and a runner-up finish in the 100-yard backstroke in 1999. She was part of the 200-medley relay team that finished second in the league in 1998. Plus, Czappa captured third-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke (1999) and 400-yard medley relay (1998). In all, she set school records in four events during her time at UWM while also earning team MVP honors.

Czappa continued her UWM career by serving as an assistant coach from 1999-2005. During her tenure, both the men's and women's teams won MCC championships.

In the classroom, Czappa was on the Dean's List throughout her UWM career, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1999. She earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors while also claiming a spot on the MCC All-Academic Team three times.

Korpal played on three-straight league champion volleyball teams during her career at UWM. She also helped UWM teams make the NCAA Tournament in 1998 and 1999, the first two Division I postseason appearances for the Panther volleyball program.

Individually, Korpal was a two-time First Team All-MCC performer while also claiming MCC Player of the Year honors in 1999. Plus, she claimed First-Team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Region honors during her senior season.

Korpal was actually the first-ever Panther to win the player of the year honor and she did so while posting a stellar overall season as a middle blocker. She finished the season third on the team in kills and second in total blocks. During the season, she was named to the all-tournament team at all three tourneys the Panthers played in while earning league player of the week honors twice.

Thanks to her stellar work in the classroom, Korpal claimed both CoSIDA Academic All-Region and MCC All-Academic Team honors throughout her career.

Sue Manning served as UWM's first full-time women's soccer head coach from 1992-96. During that time, she helped the Panthers to 46 victories and their first-ever appearance in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship match. In the 1995 season that culminated with the Panthers in the title game, she also earned Wisconsin Soccer Coaches' Association Coach of the Year honors.

Manning was responsible for laying the foundation for the incredible success the Panthers have enjoyed over the last decade-plus. In UWM's first season in the MCC in 1994, she led the Panthers to a second-place finish. By the next season, she led Milwaukee to the MCC title match.

In the process, she recruited the players that would lead the Panthers to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 1997. Among those players were UWM hall of famer Lisa (Kryzkowski) Cantreel, all-time second-leading scorer Cammy Polson, Josha Krueger and fourth all-time leading scorer Mara Thompson. In all, Manning coached the top five scorers in UWM history. And, her contributions to the program are still recognized today, as the team gives out the Susan Moynihan Team Award after every season.

After leaving UWM, Manning spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach for the highly-successful Purdue women's soccer program.

Manning was also actively involved in youth coaching with the Lafayette Area Soccer Club, helping to build the club from the ground up. In three years, she grew the competitive side of the club from one team to six teams, with over 100 players involved.

Thompson was a baseball standout during his time at UWM.

In fact, Thompson starred on the mound. He pitched in 15 games over two seasons, completing seven of those contests. Thompson posted a 3.43 earned run average and tallied 62 strikeouts in 82 innings.

During his sophomore season, Thompson played first base when he was not pitching and wound up leading the team in hitting and pitching that year. He was offered a contract to play professional baseball in the Cleveland organization, but turned it down to stay in school. Shortly after that, his reserve unit was activated, halting both his education and his career.

Thompson also excelled academically, earning a spot on the Dean's List at UWM while serving as a member of the Delta Sigma Kappa fraternity.

In 2005, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Baseball Hall of Fame.

Release courtesy of Milwaukee Sports Information Director Kevin O'Connor